Redeemers facts for kids
In U.S. history, the Redeemers were a powerful political coalition in the Southern United States. They were active during the Reconstruction Era, which happened after the Civil War. The Redeemers were the Southern part of the Democratic Party.
Their main goals were to get back political power for white Southerners and to enforce white supremacy. This meant they wanted white people to be in charge. Their plan, called Redemption, aimed to remove the Radical Republicans from power. The Republicans at that time were a group made up of freed slaves, people from the North called "carpetbaggers", and white Southerners who supported the Republicans, called "scalawags".
The Redeemers were often led by white farmers and landowners. They controlled politics in most Southern areas from the 1870s to about 1910.
During Reconstruction, the South was under the control of the U.S. government. Southern state governments were mostly run by Republicans. These Republicans were elected largely by newly freed slaves and their supporters. Republicans in the U.S. government wanted to give political rights to the former slaves. They believed this was key for them to become full citizens.
Important changes were made to the U.S. Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed civil rights for former slaves. It also made sure everyone had equal protection under the laws. The Fifteenth Amendment said that people could not be stopped from voting because of their race or color.
Many educated Black Americans moved to the South to help with Reconstruction. Some were elected to government jobs in Southern states. Others were given important positions. However, many white Southerners did not like these Reconstruction governments. They did not want to accept their defeat in the Civil War. They tried to stop Black Americans from taking part in politics in any way they could.
While wealthy landowners often supported these efforts, violence against freed people and Republicans was usually carried out by other white people. Secret groups like the Ku Klux Klan formed right after the war. They used violence to try and stop these changes.
In the 1870s, paramilitary groups became active. These were groups of armed citizens, not official soldiers. Examples include the White League in Louisiana and the Red Shirts in Mississippi and North Carolina. These groups tried to weaken the Republicans. They broke up meetings and political gatherings. They also used threats and violence to stop people from voting for Republicans.
By the presidential election of 1876, only three Southern states were still controlled by Republicans. These were Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. The election for president in 1876 was very close and disputed. It was between Rutherford B. Hayes (a Republican) and Samuel J. Tilden (a Democrat). The election was supposedly settled by the Compromise of 1877. In this agreement, Hayes became president. In return, federal troops were removed from the remaining Southern states. This removal of troops marked the end of Reconstruction.
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The Rise of the Redeemers
In the 1870s, the Democrats in the South started to gain more political power. This happened as white Southerners who had fought for the Confederacy began to vote again. This movement grew stronger until the Compromise of 1877. This period was known as the Redemption. White Democratic Southerners believed they were "redeeming" the South by taking back control.
During this time, violence increased in the Deep South. This was a second wave of violence after the first efforts to stop the Ku Klux Klan. In 1868, white groups tried to stop Republicans from winning the election in Louisiana. Over a few days, they killed about 200 freed people in St. Landry Parish. This event was called the Opelousas massacre. Other violent acts also occurred. From April to October, there were 1,081 political murders in Louisiana. Most of the victims were freed people.
Violence was a common part of election campaigns in several states before the 1872 election. In 1874 and 1875, more organized paramilitary groups linked to the Democratic Party used threats, fear, and violence. They targeted Black voters and their supporters to reduce Republican votes. These groups included the White League and Red Shirts. They acted openly to achieve their political goals. News media often reported on their activities. Every election from 1868 onward involved threats and violence. They were also usually marked by cheating.
After a disputed election for governor in Louisiana in 1872, two different governors claimed victory. This situation led to the Colfax Massacre in 1873. In this event, white Democratic groups killed more than 100 Republican Black Americans. This happened during a fight over who controlled local government offices. Three white people also died in the violence.
In 1874, some white groups formed the White League. This was a Democratic paramilitary group that started in Louisiana. Chapters of the White League appeared across the state. In August, the White League forced six Republican office holders in Coushatta, Louisiana to leave the state. Before they could leave, they and several Black witnesses were killed by the white paramilitary group.
In September, thousands of armed white groups, who supported the Democratic candidate for governor, fought against New Orleans police and state soldiers. This event was called the Battle of Liberty Place. They took over state government offices in New Orleans. They also occupied the capitol building and the armory. They forced Republican governor William Pitt Kellogg out of office. They only left when federal troops, sent by President Ulysses S. Grant, arrived.
Similarly, in Mississippi, the Red Shirts became a major paramilitary group. They used threats and murder to force people to vote Democratic. Chapters of the Red Shirts also formed and were active in North Carolina and South Carolina. They broke up Republican meetings, killed leaders and office holders, and scared voters away from the polls.
The Redeemers strongly opposed the Republican governments. They believed these governments were corrupt and went against true American values. The South was also facing serious money problems due to national economic issues and its reliance on cotton. Redeemers complained about taxes being higher than before the war. Before the war, states had fewer services, and wealthy landowners ran their own private institutions. The Redeemers wanted to reduce state debts.
Once in power, they usually cut government spending. They made legislative sessions shorter and lowered politicians' salaries. They also reduced government help for railroads and businesses. Support for new public education systems and some welfare programs was also cut.
As Democrats took control of state governments, they worked to change voting rules. Their goal was to prevent most Black Americans and many poor white people from voting. However, Black Americans continued to vote in large numbers into the 1880s. Many even won local government jobs. Black members of Congress continued to be elected, though in smaller numbers, until the 1890s. George Henry White, the last Black Congressman from the South after Reconstruction, retired in 1901. After that, Congress was entirely white until 1929.
In the 1890s, William Jennings Bryan took control of the Democratic Party nationwide. The Democrats also faced challenges from the Agrarian Revolt. This was when their control of the South was threatened by groups like the Farmers Alliance and the new People's Party.
Taking Away Voting Rights
Democrats worked hard to stop different groups from joining together politically. In the former Confederate South, from 1890 to 1908, ten of the eleven states passed new state constitutions. These constitutions had new rules for voting. They included poll taxes, literacy tests, and rules about how long someone had to live in a place. These rules effectively stopped almost all Black Americans and tens of thousands of poor white people from voting.
Soon after these rules were put in place, hundreds of thousands of people were removed from voter registration lists. For example, in Alabama, in 1900, there were 79,311 voters in fourteen counties. By June 1, 1903, after the new constitution passed, only 1,081 people were registered. In 1900, Alabama had 181,315 Black Americans who could vote. But by 1903, only 2,980 were registered, even though at least 74,000 could read and write. From 1900 to 1903, the number of white registered voters also dropped by more than 40,000, even though the white population grew.
By 1941, more poor white people than Black Americans had lost their right to vote in Alabama. This was mostly because of the poll tax, which added up over time. Estimates suggest that 600,000 white people and 500,000 Black Americans had lost their voting rights.
Besides losing their right to vote, Black Americans and poor white people were also shut out of the political process. Southern states passed Jim Crow laws. These laws forced segregation in public places and facilities. This discrimination, segregation, and loss of voting rights continued for many decades into the 20th century. People who could not vote also could not run for office or serve on juries. This meant they were excluded from all government jobs at local, state, and national levels.
Even though Black Americans tried to challenge these laws in court, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Mississippi's and Alabama's voting rules. This happened in cases like Williams v. Mississippi (1898) and Giles v. Harris (1903).
The "Redeemed" South
When Reconstruction ended, so did the hope for the U.S. government to make sure the constitutional amendments were followed. These amendments had been passed after the Civil War. As the last federal troops left the former Confederate states, two old problems in American politics came back strongly in the South. These were the issues of states' rights and race. These two issues had caused the Civil War. In 1877, the South took back control over them.
"The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery," wrote W. E. B. Du Bois. The Black community in the South was again controlled by the Southern Democrats. These Democrats had lost political power during Reconstruction. White people in the South wanted to bring back their own social and political system. Their goal was a new social order that enforced racial control and labor control.
While Republicans kept some power in parts of the Upper South, like Tennessee, the Deep South returned to "home rule." This was especially true in Georgia. There, Democrats held the governor's office for 131 years in a row. This period of control only ended in 2003.
After the Compromise of 1877, Southern Democrats kept the South's Black community under tighter and tighter control. Politically, Black Americans were slowly removed from public office. The few who remained saw their influence in local politics greatly reduced. Socially, the situation was worse. Southern Democrats tightened their control over the workforce. Laws against being jobless (vagrancy) and laws against leaving a job before a contract ended were brought back. It became illegal to be jobless or to quit a job early.
Economically, Black Americans lost their independence. New laws gave white landowners control over credit and property. In effect, the Black community was put under a three-part control that reminded many of slavery.
Historian Edward L. Ayers says that after 1877, the Redeemers themselves were very divided. They fought for control of the Democratic Party. He noted that despite their show of unity, the Redeemers had deep disagreements. These included conflicts between different regions and between city and country. The Democratic Party was too big to hold all the ambitions of white men who wanted power. It was also too large to act quickly.
Supreme Court and Voting Rights
Even though Black Americans tried to challenge these laws in court, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Mississippi's and Alabama's voting rules. This happened in cases like Williams v. Mississippi (1898), Giles v. Harris (1903), and Giles v. Teasley (1904). Booker T. Washington secretly helped fund and arrange lawyers for these legal challenges. He raised money from supporters in the North who also helped Tuskegee University.
Later, the Supreme Court ruled that white primaries were unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright (1944). White primaries were elections where only white people could vote. After this ruling, civil rights groups quickly worked to register African-American voters. By 1947, a group in Atlanta managed to register 125,000 voters in Georgia. This raised Black participation to 18.8% of those who could vote. This was a big increase from the 20,000 who had managed to register in 1940.
However, Georgia and other Southern states passed new laws in 1958. These laws once again tried to stop Black voter registration. It was not until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Black Americans finally regained their full ability to vote. These laws helped the descendants of those who were first given the right to vote by the Fifteenth Amendment.
